Leadership for Change Prize 2025

Discover our six-lesson curriculum and competition in partnership with Rolex.

Our new curriculum, launching September 1st, empowers 10- to 16-year-olds with the skills to think critically and navigate a "post-truth" world.

This year, students become "news decoders" – they'll develop the critical-thinking, creative problem-solving and media-literacy skills to navigate through fake news and polarisation. Students will learn from leading experts through lessons that unpick the current media landscape, including the impact of AI, social media and press regulation. The programme concludes with students pitching a "Project for Change" to improve media literacy within their school or local community.

The Leadership for Change Prize offers students the chance to submit their projects as part of a global competition. Winners will receive up to £1,000 and mentorship to bring their projects to life.

Leadership for Change 2025 is coming soon!

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What is Leadership for Change?

Leadership for Change is an education programme comprised of three core activities:

Curriculum

Six one-hour lessons equip students with the tools and knowledge to tackle media-literacy issues and lead change in their communities.
Live lesson

An exciting live lesson will take place online on October 22nd 2025. Students will join interactive activities and hear from inspiring leaders.
Competition

Between September 19th and November 19th 2025, students will enter their media-literacy projects into our global competition. Three projects will be awarded funding and mentorship to make them a reality. Meet last year’s winners.

Prize winners will receive:

Up to £1,000 funding for the winning schools to deliver the chosen project
Three mentorship video calls for students from an experienced leader between January and June 2026
The publication of the winning project on the Topical Talk website
An award for each winning student

About the lessons

News you trust

Discuss and debate truth in a changing media landscape.
Social media and the news

Explore how social media echo-chambers can impact decision-making.
AI and the news

Discover how AI is changing newsrooms and how journalists find and report stories.
Press regulations and the news

Debate the limits of what journalists should report.
Projects for Change

Students will generate ideas and create a plan for their own "Project for Change".
Prepare to pitch

Students will share their ideas and vote for the project they think will have the biggest impact.